implies unemployment going up, and it implies us shooting ourselves in the foot at a time when the global environment is much more difficult. see what's happening in europe, in the middle east, in china. second of all, you just had an election, and one of the messages of the election was one of shared responsibility and fairer burden sharing, in which the rich have done extremely well not just on the outside but also in terms of being protected on the down side. finally, and more importantly, the economic arguments against this, while they would be valid at higher tax rates are not valid here. so if you look at the hand the president has, it is stronger than the republicans', and i think both of them will want to seek some sort of compromise. >> it sounds so reasonable. let's bring in steve warren. he's an editor at the wall street journal, a conservative. steven, do you agree, are the republicans ready to strike a deal with the president if it means giving up the bush tax cuts for the wealthy? they have dug in on this. >> i don't know, ali. i listen to this conversation and i feel like i'm living in